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Madrona-backed location analytics startup Placed is today launching Placed Insights, a ratings service for real world locations which has been in development over the past two years. The system is designed to bring a web analytic-like offering to offline locations, or as CEO David Shim puts it: “what Nielsen has done for TV, and comScore has done for offline, Placed has accomplished for the physical world,” as he explains.

Like the above firms he references, Placed Insights also measures activity using data from panelists who have agreed to share their location on their mobile phones. The system works in apps which request access to users’ location data. Though, arguably some users may not read or understand permissions dialog boxes, at the end of the day, it’s on users to protect their location privacy. Placed is not being dishonest to acquire this data.

Today, the service measures over 70 million locations daily from more than 70,000 panelists, and this data then allows retailers, brands, advertisers and publishers a better understanding of their customers’ real world behavior, in near real-time. This “Place Graph,” as these measurements at physical locations are called, shows consumer visits to over 130 business categories, and 1,000 brands including retailers, restaurants, banks, hotels, and others, the company reports.

Shim provides some examples of the kind of data Placed Insights could provide, citing things like: the top-gaining retailers by foot traffic in March; the age segment that caused the largest increase in visits to Taco Bell; where else Best Buy customers are most likely to shop, etc.

To even beter showcase Placed’s potential, the company also compiled a report detailing the most-visited U.S. businesses (McDonald’s, Walmart, Subway lead, e.g), top restaurants, a demographic analysis of big box retailers customers and more.

Those sample charts are below.

To date, Placed has measured over 13 billion locations. Insights had been running in pilot mode with a select list of clients, but the company hadn’t offered this service to the public until now.